Air New Zealand Starts Working With OpenAI

Air New Zealand is working with OpenAI in a first-of-its-kind collaboration in the country to expand the use of artificial intelligence across the airline. New Zealand’s national carrier is part of a group of early OpenAI customers in the Asia-Pacific region and has already built over 1,500 Custom GPTs to improve internal workflows.

As part of the collaboration, Air New Zealand will gain direct access to OpenAI technologies to develop and apply use cases, and equip its people across corporate roles with secure, enterprise-grade AI tools.

Early areas of exploration include improving customer self-service experiences and enabling safe, responsible, and integrated planning across airline maintenance and operations.

Air New Zealand says it is also looking into how data-driven insights can help employees make smarter, more informed operational decisions.

The agreement gives Companion AI – Air New Zealand's deployment of ChatGPT Enterprise, to all 3,500 corporate employees. Additionally, Air New Zealand will also invest in new solutions using OpenAI APIs to improve both customer and employee experiences with Generative AI.

Via a statement, Air New Zealand Chief Digital Officer Nikhil Ravishankar says the collaboration is an opportunity for the airline. “We're excited to see how AI will transform the way we work," he said.

Oliver Jay, the managing director of international at OpenAI said Air New Zealand was an example of how the aviation sector can adopt advanced tools in practical ways that deliver value for employees and customers.

Among other things, a Custom GPT in ChatGPT allows a business to build AI solutions for specific industries, company needs, or creative applications without requiring advanced coding expertise.

Air New Zealand flies around 400 flights per day to 49 domestic and international airports with a fleet of 113 aircraft, including thirty ATR turboprops, twenty-three de Havilland Dash 8s, twenty-three A320 types, thirteen A321 types, ten B777-300ERs, and fourteen B787-9s.

The airline said that it is committed to the responsible and ethical use of AI, adding that they have embedded with strong governance and transparency protocols in the OpenAI collaboration.

Photo: Boeing